Method for manufacturing brushes and device applied thereby

ABSTRACT

Method for manufacturing brushes includes providing fiber bundles ( 4 ) in a support ( 2 ); moving the fiber bundles ( 4 ) according to a desired profile until they protrude through openings ( 21 ) in a holder ( 10 ) with one far end; and anchoring the fiber bundles ( 4 ) in the holder ( 10 ), wherein moving the fiber bundles ( 4 ) in the support ( 2 ) is carried out according to an intermediary profile; the fiber bundles are shortened to a desired length; and the fiber bundles ( 4 ) are moved further until they extend through the openings ( 21 ) in the holder ( 10 ) according to the desired profile.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns a method for manufacturing brushes.

When manufacturing brushes, it is known to provide fiber bundles inholes or openings in brush bodies or in a part of brush bodies, afterwhich the fibers are joined together at the far ends provided in theopenings.

The fibers are provided in the openings by means of a support withpassages that are mutually arranged according to a certain pattern,whereby fiber bundles can be provided in these passages that are to beplaced in a brush body.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

According to a known method for manufacturing brushes, fiber bundles arelaterally separated from at least one amount of loose fibers, afterwhich the fiber bundles are provided step by step in the above-mentionedsupport in a mechanical manner.

Next, the fiber bundles are moved in the support by means of pens, untilthey protrude through the openings in the brush body with one far end,after which the fibers are heated at said far ends until they melttogether and are thus anchored in the brush body.

According to an alternative method, which is described in EP 0.972.465,use is made of a holder in which are provided openings or holes. In thiscase, the fiber bundles are pushed out of the support by means of pensuntil they are positioned through the openings in the holder with one oftheir far ends, after which these far ends of the fiber bundles aremelted together and after which the holder is fixed in or to a brushbody.

Although the above-described methods make it possible to manufacturebrushes in an efficient manner, problems arise when manufacturingbrushes in which the different fiber bundles vary in thickness, inmaterial choice or the like. Indeed, when melting together the far endsof the fiber bundles that are provided through the openings in a brushbody or a holder, a melting layer is created which, after it hassolidified, anchors the fiber bundles.

In the case whereby the number of fibers that are provided through thedifferent openings in the brush body or in the holder varies, or in thecase whereby some of the fiber bundles protrude further through theopenings with their aforesaid far ends than others, it may be harder tomelt the fiber bundles, such that smaller fiber bundles, whose far endsdo not protrude far through the openings in the brush body or in theholder, will not melt sufficiently, as a result of which these fiberbundles are not sufficiently anchored.

In order to solve this problem, it is known to prolong the contactbetween a hot stamp and the far ends of the fiber bundles or to developa stamp whose shape corresponds exactly to the profile of the far endsof the fibers protruding through the openings in the holder of the brushbody.

Prolonging the contact time between the stamp and the fiber bundles isparticularly disadvantageous to the production capacity, whereasdeveloping stamps with an exact profile is expensive and disadvantageousto the flexibility of the method, since a separate stamp must be madefor each type of brush in this case.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention aims to remedy the above-mentioned and otherdisadvantages.

To this end, the invention concerns a method for manufacturing brusheswhich consists in providing fiber bundles in a support; in moving thefiber bundles according to a desired fiber bundle profile until theyprotrude with one far end through openings in a brush body or a holder;and in anchoring the fiber bundles in the brush body or the holder,whereby the method comprises the following additional operating steps:moving the fiber bundles in the support according to an intermediaryprofile; shortening at least one of the fiber bundles to a desiredlength; and moving the fiber bundles further until they have beenprovided through the openings in the brush body or in the holderaccording to the desired profile and up to a desired distance.

The present invention is advantageous in that the fiber bundles are cutat length as a function of their desired profile, according to whichthey have to be anchored in the holder or in the brush body, and as afunction of their composition, such that, when melting the far ends ofthe fiber bundles, there is always an appropriate amount of fibermaterial in order to obtain a good melting of the far ends, such thatthe anchoring of the fibers in the brush body or in the holder is alwaysof good quality.

The present invention also concerns a device for manufacturing brusheswith a method according to the invention, which device comprises atleast a support in which are provided openings for fiber bundles, aswell as transmission means comprising pens which make it possible tomove fiber bundles through the openings in the support, whereby thisdevice further comprises means which make it possible to shorten fiberbundles and whereby the above-mentioned pens can be mutually movedaccording to an axial translation.

According to an equivalent variant, the device comprises at least asupport in which are provided openings for fiber bundles, as well astransmission means comprising pens which make it possible to move fiberbundles through the openings in the support, whereby the device furthercomprises means which make it possible to shorten fiber bundles, wherebythe device comprises two different sets of pens, and whereby the pensare positioned according to a different profile with their free farends.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to better explain the characteristics of the present invention,the following preferred method according to the invention formanufacturing brushes is given as an example only without beinglimitative in any way, with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 schematically represents a method for manufacturing brushes;

FIGS. 2 to 6 represent different operational steps, applied in a methodaccording to the invention, in greater detail.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 schematically represents a method for manufacturing brusheswhereby, for the supply of fibers, use is made of a device 1 with atleast one support 2 which is provided with openings 3 which are mutuallyarranged according to a specific pattern, whereby fiber bundles 4 can becollected in this support 2 that need to be provided in a brush body 5.

This method further mainly consists of the combination of at least fouroperational steps, a first step 6 in which the fiber bundles 4 areseparated from at least one amount of loose fibers 7; a second step 8which consists in filling the support 2 with fiber bundles 4; a thirdstep 9 which consists in transmitting the fiber bundles 4 provided insaid support to a holder 10 by means of the support 2; and a fourth steprespectively, in which the fiber bundles 4 are fixed in the brush body 5or a part thereof by means of the holder 10.

Separating the fiber bundles 4 from an amount of loose fibers 7 andfilling the support 2 with fiber bundles 4 is generally known in thefield of the invention and is not treated in any further detail here.

FIGS. 2 to 6 represent a part of the device 1 in greater detail whichmakes it possible to transfer the fiber bundles 4 to the holder 10.

In this case, this part of the device 1 contains the above-mentionedsupport 2 and the transmission means 11.

The support 2 is preferably composed of an actual support 12 and aguiding plate 13 for fibers.

The guiding plate 13 for fibers is provided with openings 14 which arearranged according to a pattern on one side which corresponds to thepattern of the openings 3 in the actual support 12, whereas the sameopenings are arranged according to a pattern on the other side of theguiding plate 13 which corresponds to the pattern in which the fiberbundles 4 must be fixed in the brush body 5.

The transmission means 11 in this case consist of a base 15 and aguiding plate 16 in which are provided different passages 17, 18 whichare arranged according to a pattern that corresponds to the openings 3in the actual support 2.

In each of the passages 17 in the base is provided a pen 19 which can beaxially moved in the passage 18 concerned of the guiding plate 16.

According to the invention, at least one of the above-mentioned pens 19can be moved in the base according to an axial translation, or at leastone of the pens 19 has a variable length, and the device comprises meanswhich are not represented in the figures which make it possible toaccurately check the position of the pens 19.

As is represented in FIG. 3, the aforesaid part of the device preferablycontains a knife 20 which, when operational, can move over the side wallof the guiding plate 13 for fibers that is directed away from the actualsupport, as well as means which make it possible to make the materialout of which the fibers are made melt.

In this case, these heating means consist of a stamp 22 in aheat-conducting material which is electrically heated.

According to the invention, when transferring the fiber bundles from thesupport 2 to the holder 10 or the brush body 5, the followingoperational steps are taken.

First, as is represented in FIG. 2, the guiding plate 13 for fibers isplaced against the actual support 12 filled with fiber bundles 4, whilethe pens 19 are being positioned according to a desired intermediaryprofile.

By the term profile is meant here the mutual position of the fiberbundles in an axial direction, whereby the desired profile is theposition of the fiber bundles 4 after they have been fixed in the holderof the brush body 5.

The intermediary profile and the desired profile are preferablydifferent.

This intermediary profile depends on the desired profile in which thefiber bundles 4 must be provided in the brush body 5, and it is designedto obtain a relatively uniform distribution of fiber material on theside of the holder 10 or the brush body 5 where the far ends of thefiber bundles are melted so as to anchor the fiber bundles 4 in theholder 10 or the brush body 5.

From what precedes follows that, when two fiber bundles with a differentnumber of fibers and the same length must be provided in the brush body,the intermediary profile is such that the fiber bundle with the largestnumber of fibers will be pushed further out of the support 2 in case thepens 19 have an intermediary profile.

Secondly, the far ends of the fiber bundles 4 protruding from theguiding plate 13 of the support 2 are cut by means of the knife 20.

After the far ends of one or several of the fiber bundles 4 have beencut, as represented in FIG. 4, the holder 10 is positioned against theguiding plate 13 for fibers, whereby the openings 14 in the guidingplate 13 are situated opposite openings 21 in the holder 10.

Next, one or several of the pens 19 are axially moved in relation toeach other in the base 15, until these pens 19 are situated in thedesired profile in which the fiber bundles 4 must be provided in thebrush body 5, after which the basis 15 of the transmission means 11 ismoved over a certain distance towards the support 2, such that the fiberbundles 4 are pushed over a desired distance through the openings 21 inthe holder 10.

As is represented in FIG. 5, the far ends of the fiber bundles 4, whichprotrude through the openings 21 in the holder 10, are heated by meansof the stamp 22 or the like, such that the above-mentioned far ends melttogether and thus, after having solidified again, form an anchoring forthe fiber bundles 4.

In a final operating step, the holder 10 can be fixed in the knownmanner in the brush body or in a part thereof.

It is clear that the far ends of the fibers must not necessarily be cutoff on one side of the guiding plate 13 for fibers, but that they canjust as well be cut off on the surface of the actual support 12 againstwhich the guiding plate 13 for fibers is provided, or that theshortening can take place when the fiber bundles 4 have been provided inthe holder 10 according to the intermediary profile.

It should be noted that the fibers must not necessarily be anchored in aholder 10 either, but that they can be anchored just as well directly inthe brush body 5.

Finally, it should be noted that, in order to move the fiber bundles 4according to the intermediary profile and the desired profile, it is notstrictly necessary to use transmission means with pens 19 that moveaccording to an axial translation, but that it is also possible to usetwo sets of pens 19, namely one in which the free far ends of the pens19 are mutually positioned in correspondence with the intermediaryprofile and one in which the free far ends of the pens 19 are positionedin correspondence with the desired profile.

The present invention is by no means limited to the method describedabove and represented in the accompanying drawings; on the contrary,such a method according to the invention for manufacturing brushes canbe made according to different variants while still remaining within thescope of the invention.

1. Method for manufacturing brushes, including providing fiber bundlesin a support; moving the fiber bundles according to a desired profile ofthe fiber bundles until they protrude through openings in a brush bodyor a holder with one far end; and anchoring the fiber bundles in thebrush body or the holder; comprising the steps moving the fiber bundlesin the support according to an intermediary profile; shortening at leastone of the fiber bundles to a desired length; and moving the fiberbundles further until they have been provided through the openings inthe brush body or in the holder according to the desired profile and upto a desired distance.
 2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the fiberbundles are shortened, after they have been arranged according to theintermediary profile, by moving them with their far ends, with whichthey must be provided in the brush body, up to a desired distance out ofthe support and by cutting off the protruding part of the far end of thefiber bundles.
 3. Method according to claim 1, wherein the intermediaryprofile and the desired profile are different.
 4. Method according toclaim 1, wherein the fiber bundles are shortened before they areprovided with their far ends in the brush body or holder.
 5. Methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the fiber bundles in the brush body or inthe holder are anchored by making the far ends of the fibers of thefiber bundles that are provided in the brush body or the holder melttogether.
 6. Device for manufacturing brushes, comprising a support inwhich are provided openings for fiber bundles; a transmissionarrangement comprising means pens which enable movement of fiber bundlesthrough the openings in the support; means for enabling shortening ofthe fiber bundles; and wherein said pens are arranged to be moveable inaxial translation.
 7. Device for manufacturing brushes, comprising asupport in which are provided openings for fiber bundles, a transmissionarrangement comprising pens that enable movement of fiber bundlesthrough the openings in the support and means enabling shortening offiber bundles, wherein the pens comprise two different sets of pens thatare positioned according to a different profile at their free far ends.